...Ecology Number 4, Fall 1999 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: Maintaining Natural Life Support Processes Issues in Ecology Number 4 Fall 1999 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: Maintaining Natural Life Support Processes by Shahid Naeem, Chair, F.S. Chapin III, Robert Costanza, Paul R. Ehrlich, Frank B. Golley, David U. Hooper, J.H. Lawton, Robert V. ONeill, Harold A. Mooney, Osvaldo E. Sala, Amy J. Symstad, and David Tilman Critical processes at the ecosystem level influence plant productivity, soil fertility, water quality, atmospheric chemistry, and many other local and global environmental conditions that ultimately affect human welfare. These ecosystem processes are controlled by both the diversity and identity of the plant, animal, and microbial species living within a community. Human modifications to the living community in an ecosystem as well as to the collective biodiversity of the earth can therefore alter ecological functions and life support services that are vital to the well-being of human societies. Substantial changes have already occurred, especially local and global losses of biodiversity. The primary cause has been widespread human transformation of once highly diverse natural ecosystems into relatively species-poor managed ecosystems. Recent studies suggest that such reductions in biodiversity can alter both the magnitude and the stability of ecosystem processes, especially when biodiversity is reduced to the low levels typical...
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... Table of Content 1 Abstract 3 2 Introduction 3 3 HISTORY OF THE WORLD AIR transport 3 3.1 How it all began 3 3.2 ICAO and IATA-history and reality 4 4 Air Transportation and the Environment 5 4.1 Demand for Air Transport 5 4.2 Environmental Impact of Aviation 7 4.3 CO2 emissions per passenger kilometer 7 4.4 Aircraft Water Emission 9 4.5 Nitrogen Oxides 9 4.6 Impact of Aviation on Biodiversity 10 4.7 Noise Emissions and its impact on humans as well as biodiversity 11 5 Cost of Aviation on certain examples 11 5.1 Aviation Cost for exotic flowers 11 5.2 The Berlin Airport Fiasco 12 6 Historical Trends in Aircraft Transport 13 7 Conclusion 14 8 Table of Figures 15 9 Sources 15 1 Abstract The following Assignment has the topic of showing the history of aviation and within this showing the environmental impact of aviation. Due to this the history is shown and in addition different types of problems connected to aviation such as carbon oxide and greenhouse gases are explained. At last there is an introduction in data’s showing aviation in its beginning as a mass transport and now. 2 Introduction Transportation - one of the most important sectors of the economy, performing the function of a kind of circulatory system in a complex organism. It not only meets the needs of the economy and population in the transportation, but also...
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...methodologies appropriate to the new ecological anthropology. / "the new ecology, " political ecology, applied or engaged anthropology, linkages methodology] cological anthropology was named as such during the 1960s, but it has many ancestors, including Daryll Forde, Alfred Kroeber, and, especially, Julian Steward. Steward's cultural ecology influenced the ecological anthropology of Roy Rappaport and Andrew P. Vayda, but the analytic unit shifted from "culture" to the ecological population, which was seen as using culture as a means (the primary means) of adaptation to environments. Columbia University can be identified as the birthplace of ecological anthropology and the related cultural materialism of Marvin Harris, which, however, drew as much on Steward's concern with culture...
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...au 2 Department of Agriculture and Tropical Savannas CRC Kununurra, Western Australia ABSTRACT Throughout the 1970s and 1980s much effort was expended on a range monitoring program in Western Australia. Unfortunately, much of the system put in place is now inactive. Such a situation is not unique and the rangelands of the world are littered with monitoring sites that are no longer part of an operating system. A need has emerged for a biodiversity monitoring system in the rangelands and the discussion is currently at the point where the range management discipline was in the early 1970s. Efficiencies can be made when developing the biodiversity monitoring system by learning from the experience of the range management profession. Monitoring sustainability will only be possible if the monitoring system is itself sustainable. We suggest a number of attributes for the system that need to be in place before the system can be judged at all sustainable. These attributes are a mix of biophysical, social and institutional and highlight the view that monitoring systems of the type being suggested constitute an unusual mixture of attributes not found in typical scientific activity. The monitoring system is dependent on all of these attributes to function. If any one of them fails, the system fails. INTRODUCTION Range (and presumably biodiversity) monitoring systems should be expected to have useful lives of fifty years or more (Wilcox 1988). While 2053 seems a long way off, consider...
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...The Latitudinal Diversity Gradient Hypothesis: the state of knowledge Biogeography Spring 2013, Term Paper Title: Latitudinal Diversity Gradient Hypothesis, the state of knowledge By Schibon 1. Introduction Latitudinal gradients in species diversity are generally understood to be increases in the number of species from high (cold-temperate) to low (warm) latitudes (Rohde, 2011). As early as 1807, von Humboldt provided the first formulation for this hypothesis (based on climate) to explain latitudinal gradients of richness (Hawkins 2001) which has remained one of the key questions in Evolutionary Ecology. No single pattern of biodiversity has fascinated ecologists more than the increase of richness toward the Tropics (Pianka 1966; Rohde 1992; Rosenzweig 1995; Gaston and Blackburn 2000). Still, there is an astonishing lack of consensus about the mechanisms leading to this spatial variation in diversity (Hillebrand, 2004). As the search for a primary cause to this latitudinal gradient has been hampered by the increase number of hypotheses (Pianka 1966; Rohde 1992), their interdependence (Currie 1991; Gaston and Blackburn 2000), and the lack of rigorous falsification (Currie et al. 1999), it makes sense to assess the current state of knowledge on this issue. The current paper aims at updating on the current state of knowledge concerning the latitudinal diversity gradient particularly through reviewing the most dominant hypotheses and theories striving...
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...27 29 31 32 33 34 36 37 39 39 42 46 55 58 61 64 70 75 77 79 81 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM AND ECOTOURISM COMMUNITY BASED ECOTOURISM THE SCALE OF ECOTOURISM MARKET DEMAND 2. DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE FROM DONORS AND AID AGENCIES THE RISE OF DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM PROJECTS OVERVIEW OF TYPES OF DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTIONS AND ASSISTANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES AND NGOS THE ROLE OF CONSULTANTS THE PROJECT PROCESS: ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION CONCLUSIONS 3. PRIVATE SECTOR ENTREPRENEURS AND DEVELOPERS PROFILE OF ECOTOURISM ENTREPRENEURS SOURCES OF FINANCING AND CAPITAL STRUCTURE GROWTH, PROFITABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY: THE ABILITY TO HAVE AN IMPACT CONCLUSIONS 4. 5. HYBRID: NGO VENTURE CAPITAL CASE STUDIES A. INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK, IADB B. US AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, USAID C. WORLD BANK: LESOTHO D. THE EUROPEAN UNION: SWAZILAND E. WORLD BANK IN SWAZILAND F. THE NATURE CONSERVANCY, TNC G. CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL, CI H. CONSERVATION CORPORATION AFRICA, CC AFRICA I. TURTLE ISLAND J. MAHO BAY K. KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, MALULEKE COMMUNITY AND MATSWANI SAFARIS 6. CONCLUSION -2- 1. Introduction The focus of this paper is on the different roles played by the donor and NGO community on the one had, and private sector entrepreneurs on the other hand, in financing and developing ecotourism. Much has been written about the role of the international development community (which comprises both the bi- and multilateral aid agencies...
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...1 What is deforestation? Deforestation is the removal or damage of vegetation in a forest to the extent that it no longer supports its natural flora and fauna. In other words, deforestation can be defined as the transformation of forest land to non-forest uses where forest land includes lands under agro-forestry and shifting cultivation, and not simply closed canopy primary forests (FAO/UNEP, 1982). However, this definition does not include “logging”. More inclusive was Myers’s 1980 definition, where deforestation refers, “generally to the complete destruction of forest cover through clearing for agriculture … [so] … that not a tree remains, and the land is given over to non-forest purposes … [and where] very heavy and unduly negligent logging … [result in a] … decline of biomass and depletion of ecosystem services … . So severe that the residual forest can no longer qualify as forest in any practical sense of the world.” Alan Graigner (1980, AS quoted in Saxena and Nautiyal, 1997) asserts that selective logging does not “lead to forest clearance and does not constitute deforestation”, whereas Norman Myers (1980, 1993) thinks that logging is crucial because, although it may only affect a small proportion of trees per hectare, it damages wide areas and is the precursor of penetration by the forest farmers. For the purpose of this study, the FAO’s latest definitions (1993) will be used. The FAO defines forests as “ecosystems with a minimum of 10% crown cover of trees and/or bamboo...
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...Sustainable development (SD) is a pattern of economic growth in which resource use aims to meet human needs while preserving theenvironment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come (sometimes taught as ELF-Environment, Local people, Future[citation needed]). The term 'sustainable development' was used by the Brundtland Commission which coined what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."[1][2] Alternatively, sustainability educator Michael Thomas Needham referred to 'Sustainable Development' "as the ability to meet the needs of the present while contributing to the future generations’ needs."[3] There is an additional focus on the present generations responsibility to improve the future generations life by restoring the previous ecosystem damage and resisting to contribute to further ecosystem damage. Sustainable development ties together concern for the carrying capacity of natural systems with the social challenges faced by humanity. As early as the 1970s, "sustainability" was employed to describe an economy "in equilibrium with basic ecological support systems."[4]Ecologists have pointed to The Limits to Growth,[5] and presented the alternative of a "steady state economy"[6] in order to address environmental concerns. The concept of sustainable development is often...
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...Preface, World Culture Report, UNESCO Publishing, Paris, 1999. Our cultural values, which often include particular religious beliefs, shape our way of living and acting in the world. Module 11 on Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainability explores the importance of indigenous values and spirituality in providing guidance for sustainable living. Such principles and values encourage a spirit of harmony between people, their natural environments and their spiritual identities. The principles for living sustainably that flow from these and other cultural and religious beliefs vary between groups and countries. They have also changed over time as circumstances demand. Despite this diversity, many principles for living sustainably are shared, not only among indigenous peoples, but also between different religious traditions. This module explores the role of culture and religion in providing guidance on ways of living sustainably. It also provides activities which analyse the place of these themes in the school curriculum. Objectives * To develop an understanding of the relationship between culture, religion and sustainable living; * To explore the principles for sustainable living encouraged in a chosen religion and in a case study from Nepal; * To analyse the relevance and...
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...Geography unit 4 Consuming the Rural Landscape – Leisure and Tourism Leisure: Freedom from time-consuming duties, responsibilities, or activities. Tourism: Temporary movement of people to destinations outside places where they normally live and work. Local Recreation: Surfing, hiking, exploring but it all involves your own local area Non-local Recreation: Going somewhere else to find activities e.g. surfing Business and recreational travel: Travel for pleasure e.g. city guides, coach drives Business and Personal travel: conferences, courses, training, interviews Leisure & non-working time: shopping, visiting museums, toured guides GROWTH OF LEISURE AND TOURISM: Since WWII: * Paid holidays from businesses →1938 UK holiday with pay act 4 days * Increased availability of free time → technology * Incomes have increased, mainly in MEDCs * Access to media e.g. travelling shows and documentaries about distant lands * Development of transport methods: train, car and aircraft carry more people, are faster and safer * People work less hours and have more holidays * Average worker in the EU 4 weeks paid holiday + public holidays * Average USA worker has only 2 paid weeks THE PLEASURE PERIPHERY MODEL: * INVENTED BY Turner and Ash → 1975 * The furthest distance tourist will travel is known as the Pleasure Periphery (PP) PLEASURE PERIPHERY MODEL: Country of origin: UK 1900-1939:...
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...Those are the top 20 grocery items that have been genetically modified. What are genetically modified organisms? A genetically modified organism is any living thing that has had their DNA tampered with. This can be mutating, removing, or adding genetic material into the organism. All of the items listed in paragraph one has had their DNA tampered with. Most times when people talk about genetically modified organisms, they mostly refer to plants that are genetically modified. You may be wondering how the animals listed are considered genetically modified. This is because scientists modify the plants that are being fed to the animals. This causes the DNA in the animals to also get tampered with. There are ways, for example, to feed chicken so that they are stronger and they get more meat in them. The way to do this is to modify the foods they eat and put something in the plant’s DNA to make these chickens stronger. Scientists can also directly modify the DNA of the animal also, instead of feeding it...
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... Photographs – Erach Bharucha Drawings – Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research All rights reserved. Distributed by University Grants Commission, New Delhi. 2004. ii Environmental Studies for Undergraduate Courses Preliminary Pages.p65 2 4/9/2004, 5:06 PM Vision The importance of Environmental Studies cannot be disputed. The need for sustainable development is a key to the future of mankind. The degradation of our environment is linked to continuing problems of pollution, loss of forest, solid waste disposal, issues related to economic productivity and national as well as ecological security. The increasing levels of global warming, the depletion of the ozone layer and a serious loss of biodiversity have also made everyone aware of growing environmental concerns. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio De Janero in 1992, and the World...
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...Carrefour- a Comparison of the behaviour of Carrefour in and outside China in terms of CSR - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Table of contents - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Executive summary I. Chapter – Introduction 1. Purpose of the Study 2. Objective of the study 3. The setup of the study II. Chapter – Carrefour’s position in China 2.1 Chinas retail market at a glance 2.2 Carrefour’s role in China III. Chapter – The purpose of CSR for multinational companies 3.1 The definition of CSR 3.2 The growing importance of CSR in China 3.3 The importance of Human Rights 3.4 Human Rights in China 3.5 Carrefour’s general employment practice standards 3.6 Carrefour Europe vs. Carrefour China 3.7 Conclusion VI. Chapter – Environmental concerns and CSR 4.1 Environment 4.2 Environmental Problems in China 4.3 Carrefour Europe vs. Carrefour China V. Chapter – Food Safety problematic and CSR 5.1 Food Safety 5.2 International Food Standards and Initiatives 5.3 Food Safety in China 5.4 Carrefour Europe vs. Carrefour China Literature Internet - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Executive summary China is one of the countries where globalisation has led to a significant change of the economical as well as the social frameworks. Multinational corporations are expending in...
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...Examiners’ Report June 2013 GCE Geography 6GE03 01 Edexcel and BTEC Qualifications Edexcel and BTEC qualifications come from Pearson, the UK’s largest awarding body. We provide a wide range of qualifications including academic, vocational, occupational and specific programmes for employers. For further information visit our qualifications websites at www.edexcel.com or www.btec.co.uk. Alternatively, you can get in touch with us using the details on our contact us page at www.edexcel.com/contactus. Giving you insight to inform next steps ResultsPlus is Pearson’s free online service giving instant and detailed analysis of your students’ exam results. • See students’ scores for every exam question. • Understand how your students’ performance compares with class and national averages. • Identify potential topics, skills and types of question where students may need to develop their learning further. For more information on ResultsPlus, or to log in, visit www.edexcel.com/resultsplus. Your exams officer will be able to set up your ResultsPlus account in minutes via Edexcel Online. Pearson: helping people progress, everywhere Pearson aspires to be the world’s leading learning company. Our aim is to help everyone progress in their lives through education. We believe in every kind of learning, for all kinds of people, wherever they are in the world. We’ve been involved in education for over 150 years, and by working across 70 countries, in 100 languages, we have built an international...
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...encouraged to quote and reproduce this material for educational, not-for-profit purposes, provided the source is acknowledged. Printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper. Trade and Environment: A Resource Book The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD, http://www.iisd.org) contributes to sustainable development by advancing policy recommendations on international trade and investment, economic policy, climate change, measurement and assessment, and natural resources management. Through the Internet, we report on international negotiations and share knowledge gained through collaborative projects with global partners, resulting in more rigorous research, capacity building in developing countries and better dialogue between North and South. IISD’s vision is better living for all—sustainably; its mission is to champion innovation, enabling societies to live sustainably. IISD is registered as a charitable organization in Canada and has...
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